Solana Beach to revisit plastic bag ban

Merchants don’t like charging customers for paper

SOLANA BEACH  Officials in Solana Beach have plans to revisit parts of its plastic bag ban after shoppers have complained about the 10-cent fee charged for paper bags.

The city banned the use of plastic bags — seen as environmental scourges that harm land, sea and wildlife — at grocery stores and pharmacies last August and at other retailers in November. The law is meant to encourage the use of reusable bags by requiring stores to charge a 10-cent fee for each paper bag they use.

Dan King with the City Manager’s Office said the City Council has asked staff members to look into the fee, based on comments they have received from the public. He said the money collected for the paper bags does not go to the city, it stays with the stores.

Former Solana Beach Mayor Celine Olson spoke out about the city’s fee during a public comment period at a council meeting in January.

She said that while she was among those who supported banning plastic bags, imposing a charge on the use of biodegradable paper bags is “one step too far” and it is hurting local businesses.

“My request is that you remove the tax, which I consider it to be, that was imposed and stop causing our stores to lose business,” she said.

“Management and employees have admitted to the loss of business, (and) as a matter of principle, I will not pay to carry my products home.”

At that meeting, Councilman Tom Campbell said he was interested in looking into modifying the ordinance to exclude the charge.

City Manager David Ott said the fee was suggested by the California Growers Association and was included in the ordinances of seven other jurisdictions that imposed the ban last year.

Other cities that have joined the bag-ban movement are Laguna Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica and San Francisco.

Two plastic bag bans similar to the city’s ordinance were recently introduced at the state level: Assembly Bill 158 was introduced in January and Senate Bill 405 in February. Both include a 10-cent fee for paper bags.

Janet Sinclair, who owns the boutique shop La Femme Chic on South Cedros Avenue, said she’s never used plastic bags at her shop, but having to charge for the paper bags she’s always given to customers has resulted in some complaints.

“Many, many, many people have opted not to take a bag,” she said. “When you’re asking someone to spend thousands of dollars at your store and then you’re going to nickel-and-dime them for 10 cents for a bag, it feels kind of embarrassing.”

Sinclair, however, said her sales haven’t been affected. She said she’ll sometimes pay the fee for her customers.

CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis said the company wouldn’t comment on “business volume” at the two CVS stores in Solana Beach, but that they are complying with the ordinance and imposing the paper bag fee.

Last year, the results of a study conducted by the National Center for Policy Analysis on the Los Angeles-area bag ban found that consumers were shopping less at stores where they had to bring their own bags, resulting in retail layoffs.